ShareTrails | 54% of Roads Proposed for Closure in Southeast Arizona

Gila-San Simon Travel Management Plan- The Safford Field Office, located in the south eastern corner of Arizona is beginning Travel Management Planning. 2,391.5 miles on 951,842 acres. Surrounding Safford, Arizona the project boundaries include areas such as: Gila Box/Bonita Creek, Hot Well Dunes, Red Knoll/Bear Spring/Watson Wash. Comments are accepted until December 16, 2023.

The primary reason for route closures are for riparian concerns or that the routes provide no recreational value. The Bureau of Land Management simply does not understand that recreational value is different for each individual therefore all current routes should remain open in order to accommodate the increase of use on public lands. The BLM is also proposing to close user created routes. Almost all BLM routes are user created routes with the majority of them having a significant purpose and need for the general population whether its for OHV, rock climbing, single track, rock hounding, mining claims, ranching, dispersed camping or other uses. The BLM should be analyzing each new “user created route” and identifying the impact of formally adopting the route into the route system.

You can see below the comparison of alternatives given. The Access Alternative (Alt. D) still closes over 300 miles of routes. Alternative B closes 54% of the current mileage of routes.

Fill in your information below in order to send a comment to the BLM letting them know you support keeping access open. You will also find below the comment card from the BLM on additional information they are looking for in this planning process.

Alternative A (no action)

Alternative B (conservation)

Alternative C (BLM preferred choice)

Alternative D (access)

You can explore the maps more here.

E-bikes will be listed as an Off-highway vehicle rather than a mechanized bike and only allowed on motorized routes. Dispersed camping which is extremely popular in this area will be greatly affected as the majority of routes proposed for closure are small spur routes that access dispersed camping spots.